Scroll Ninja [絵巻忍者] is an action game where you take a team of ninjas on a quest of revenge. Using kaginawa ninja grappling lines and a variety of ninja tools, weapons and skills you'll swiftly make your way through a lush and complex world painted inside a traditional Japanese art scroll.

*Site is on a temporary host and is not completed. If it seems slow wait a few minutes and try agaian. We'll get it up and running and a production system as soon as possible.

*About the Ouya: We will support the Ouya in the Android version to the best of our abilities. At the moment we do not have details nor a physical Ouya, so while we intend to support it we do not know when we will be able to provide this support.

Summary

Scroll Ninja is a side scrolling action game based in a world inside a traditional Japanese art scroll. The game is open source (GPL with licensing options available) but the assets are not (but can be licensed). Scroll Ninja will be available for Windows, OSX, Linux and Android. Initially there will only be a single player mode but we intend to add a multi-player mode after initial release. The Android version will include a unique control set for touch screens because we hate those stupid fake on-screen plus pads or the circle virtual analog sticks. There will be gamepad profiles for Android, and hopefully a full control scheme for the Ouya.

Base [Initial] Storyline

Fire Ninja Onimaru returns to his village after a day of training in the forest, only to find it has been ransacked and razed. Onimaru sets off on a quest for vengeance; picking up allies and encountering phantoms of his past along the way. In his path are enemy ninja, youkai daemons and the manipulated - warriors controlled through cursed charms. Guide Onimaru and crew through 4.1 chapters of revenge, shinobi style.

Fire Ninja - Old Master

Game Features

Different Ninja Styles[忍術]

3 different types of Ninja (*initially, see our reach goals) each with their own unique controls, abilities and tools all based on actual ninja clans and ninjyutsu styles. For initial release you can switch between fire [火遁], water [水遁] and wind [風遁] ninja to make your way through the game.

Wire Action [鍵縄]

One of the basic tools available to you is the "Kaginawa", a ninja grappling line. You can ascend, swing, or grapple to terrain and pull yourself towards it or pull enemies and objects towards you. Physics is done with a dedicated physics engine so swinging and falling will have a somewhat natural feel to it. Objects significantly heavier than you will not be pull-able, but may be shifted or get dislodged. You'll be able to pull in enemies weaker than you but enemies stronger than you could actually pull you in with your own line.

Free Running [疾風の術]

Using the skills of Shippu [Hayate] you'll run freely through the world. Running up walls, seamlessly sticking to the ground over rough terrain and large rocks, and hanging upside down from ledges and branches.

Aside from the Kaginawa Grappling Line you'll have tools like the Mizugumo Ninja Raft [水蜘蛛], Tako Glider Kite [凧], Rope and Bamboo Ladders and temporary Bridges and for night missions the Gantou Lamp [龕灯] which can use to direct light like a flash light or can hide to blend in to the night.

Skills [忍術]

Bunshin Shadow Clones [分身の術], Migawari Substitues (switch them with yourself to take a fatal blow) [身代わりの術] and many more like Kuchiyose Summoning [口寄せの術] if we have the resources. You can upgrade your ninjas by learning skills from Ninja Masters.

Ninja Dojo Master

Art-form Skills [忍術]

Fire Ninja "Onimaru"

Fire: Blow fireballs, leave a trail of embers in your path, create a wall of flame and use a flaming sword to set your enemies alight.

Water Ninja "Suigetsu"

Water: Run across water, walk freely underwater, blow darts from under the waters surface, blow out flames and lamps with blasts of water and call upon Tsunami Waves [津波] to wash away your enemies.

Wind Ninja "Fuuko"

Wind: Create solid Kintoun Clouds [金斗雲] to stand on in the air, summon Tatsumaki Tornadoes [竜巻] to scatter enemies, push enemies and items around and deflect projectiles with bursts of air.

Big Bosses

Fight 5+ bosses* each with multiple phases in their own huge environments. We want boss battles to be epic, memorable, fun and challenging and are aiming at more than 5 minutes of battle time for each. Take for instance Boss #1, Nyuudougumo [入道雲]: a manipulated massive hammer wielding brute who you'll fight in a multi story pagoda.

Nyuudougumo concept art

*We want to include many more bosses and mini-bosses but will limit the number to 5 bosses matched up to the story line.

How We'll Use The Funds

The first $30,000 will simply pay enough to keep us alive and with running water and electricity while we make the core game. We'll include as many features listed above as possible, and even if we don't include them all in initial release we intend to include them in updates. The core game will be single player and include story mode, challenge mode and speed run mode.

Reach Goals

*All reach goals will be created AFTER initial release, but will be included if we amass enough funds.

Dark Rival "Kagemaru"

$50,000: An extended story with 5+ new chapters and new Ninja Art Forms and characters including Soil [土遁], Wood [木遁], Thunder [雷遁].

$80,000: Multi-player mode! Play Death Match, Capture the Flag, Assassin and other modes on huge hand painted maps.

$100,000: Co-op mode and a special side story built specifically for co-op.

$120,000: Map creator and editor for multi-player and challenge maps.

$130,000: Story creator and editor to create your own single player and co-op levels.

$150,000: A full side story featuring Fire Ninja Onimaru's rival Kagemaru [影丸] as the main character, who is a member of the Darkness Arts [闇遁] and uses gravity based attacks like Attraction [引力の術], Repulsion [斥力の術] and Moon Walk [月走り] for gravity defying mid air dashes.

$180,000: The Metal/Mechanical arts [金遁] and accompanying character and a whole set of Karakuri Mechanical [絡繰り] gadgets and weapons, including pilot-able vehicles.

$200,000: You may note your character collects Chakra points. There's a reason for this which we'll reveal if we get close to the $200k mark.

$500,000: Radical! We'll add every Ninja weapon and skill we can find or think of, including completely original and occasionally ridiculous ninja art forms and characters like Radioactivity [原遁], Eroticism [淫遁], Steam [霧遁], Smoke [煙遁], Light [光遁] and more (leave your ideas in the comments!). Each will be usable in multi-player and have a unique side quest as a downloadable addition.

Rewards

Most of the rewards include a copy of the game for Desktop (Windows, OSX, Linux), Android, or both. Most reward packs include exclusive content which will only be provided to Kickstarter backers. If our campaign does succeed and we complete the initial game we will create extended contents sets, new modes, etc. and "premium" backers will receive access to all of these extensions for free.

The sound track will be release in portions (as the tracks are completed), and will include tracks from several Japanese independent artists including se.noize (our resident sound artist), indi singer/songwriter Tatsuki and many more. The general soundtrack will be appropriately themed with authentic Japanese sound, and will include electronic tracks, instrumental tracks and regular song (with sung lyrics) tracks.

As for physical rewards we've got three types lined up:

USB Kunai

The USB Kunai is simply an 8GB USB stick (maybe bigger if we get enough orders) with the Scroll Ninja logo printed on it and filled with all the digital goodies we can think to put on it.

Scroll Ninja logo Fude pen

A Fude is a traditional Japanese brush. The Scroll Ninja art style is made to mimic art made with this kind of brush (and some of it is actually drawn with a Fude pen and scanned). The Fude pen has a tip which mimics this brush and has an ink reservoir built into it. Our Kickstarter exclusive Fude pen comes in a box and will include the Scroll Ninja [絵巻忍者] logo in Japanese on both the pen and the box. We're also including a pack of Japanese paper [和紙] similar to that used as the graphical base in the game.

"Kakejiku" Art Scroll

Also available will be authentic art, hand drawn with fude brushes in full color by Jun Tohyama on Japanese paper, then cut and set on an actual Kakejiku [掛け軸] hangable wall scroll. The image above is just a sample of the materials used - actual completed illustrations will be properly sized and adhered.

The grand reward is a full closed-source OK license to the source, graphical and sound assets. If you are a developer and you want to make a similar game or want to make a game based off of Scroll Ninja directly this is a wide-open and fairly limit-free opportunity at a fixed and, in the scope of things, very cheap price. After release we likely offer licenses like this on a per-asset or profit sharing model. Aside from funding what we'd really like to get out of this is more content from the Scroll Ninja universe. We believe that the more creators and makers who put out Scroll Ninja related material the bigger it will become - and we don't want to limit that by being jerks with copyright and closed source. Anyone who buys into this reward will be a big initial partner of ours.

Risks and challenges

Our only major challenge is running out of money (like we did the last time). Each time we run low on funds we have to take on outside projects that take up time and don't always provide us with enough money to continue. Only after taking two big projects were we able to regroup and start again - but this time we've taken a much safer and easier to develop path and chose a different base system so we can assure full multi-platform compatibility and added Android to our list of supported platforms. If kickstarter does succeed we don't expect any real difficulties - as long as there is enough money to pay Naoki Iwakawa and Jun Tohyama they'll be on the project full time. It should be noted they both have experience as game developers/creators. In addition, other than mulitplayer and some refactoring most of the difficult work has already been done, so if funded we believe our release schedule is realistic.

If kickstarter does not succeed we will likely continue development, but it won't be at any real reasonable pace. We have other projects (some of which you may see on kickstarter soon!) which the majority of our developers/creators/artists/designers are working on already and are always in need of extra hands. What you see here so far is essentially just the creation of two of the Genshin members; Mr. Tohyama and Mr. Iwakawa. It should be noted one of our creators, Ms. Yoshida, was the one who re-kindled the project when she started playing with libGDX. If you look at the source commit history you'll note she started it out.

$50 reward

10 backers

Premium Supporter.
Your name, a quote, and a link to your site in the credits as a Premium Supporter.
+
Scroll Ninja for Desktop and scroll Ninja Pocket Edition *special* editions for Kickstarter + every additional story pack we release. This is complete with kickstarter only abilities and tools and full access to development builds + Wallpaper Sets + Sound Track (no DRM).

Estimated delivery:Feb 2013

You selected

$75 reward

3 backers

Everything from the $50 level + a digital art book containing concept art, notes, scratch work, ideas etc. We'll also be including a repository of all our photos and video from our field trips (see update #1).

Estimated delivery:Sep 2013

You selected

$100 reward

5 backers
Limited (95 left of 100)

A USB Kunai [Ninja utility knife] filled with everything from the $75 level. The stick features the Scroll Ninja logo in English and Japanese printed on the side. Shipping will be billed separately.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$200 reward

1 backer
Limited (199 left of 200)

A limited edition Scroll Ninja Fude [Japanese brush] Pen complete with logo and commemorative box + a pack of authentic Washi [Japanese Paper] like the backgrounds in the game. Everything from the $75 level is also included. Shipping will be billed separately.

Estimated delivery:Sep 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$300 reward

0 backers
Limited (20 left of 20)

You (or the person of your choosing) re-imagined as an animated background/NPC character in the game. This character will show up in the credits section with your name and a banner link to your site. You will receive all the rough sketches and any scratch work for your character as well.

You also get everything from the $75 level.
*We will not be able to create characters that infringe copyright or violate personal rights.

Estimated delivery:Aug 2013

You selected

$500 reward

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

You design an enemy (it can be you!) to include in the game. This character will show up in the credits section with your name and a banner link to your site. You will receive all the rough sketches and any scratch work for your character as well.

You also get everything from the $75 level.
*We will not be able to create characters that infringe copyright or violate personal rights.

Estimated delivery:Aug 2013

You selected

$1,200 reward

0 backers
Limited (3 left of 3)

You get to design a boss that will be included in the game.This character and your details or the details of your choosing, including links and banners will be included in the credits. You will receive all the rough sketches and any scratch work for your character as well.

You also get everything from the $75 level.
*We will not be able to create characters that infringe copyright or violate personal rights.

Estimated delivery:Aug 2013

You selected

$2,000 reward

0 backers
Limited (5 left of 5)

You get to design a full stage for the game. This stage will be drawn out by hand on an authentic Japanese art scroll and sent to you. Your name and the details of your choosing will be included in the credits. You will receive all scratch files created while making your stage. You also get everything from the $75 level. Shipping will be billed separately. *We will not be able to create any stages or settings that violate copyright.

Estimated delivery:Aug 2013

Ships anywhere in the world

You selected

$5,000 reward

0 backers
Limited (1 left of 1)

You or the character of your choosing as a playable character in the game. This character and your details or the details of your choosing, including links and banners will be included in the credits. You will receive all the rough sketches and any scratch work for your character as well.

You also get everything from the $75 level.
*We will not be able to create characters that infringe copyright or violate personal rights.

Estimated delivery:Aug 2013

You selected

$10,000 reward

0 backers

*Developer Special* Receive a license to all assets from the game (excluding stage scripts and storyline) and a non-GPL (closed source OK) license. You will be given access to assets immediately as we make them - so putting out your own Scroll Ninja remix or something else entirely using Scroll Ninja assets or code. After Kickstarter, if the campaign is successful, we will not be offering a deal like this. For more information please contact info@genshin.org directly.

Estimated delivery:Jan 2013

Funding period

Dec 19, 2012 - Jan 18, 2013
(30 days)

Eureka! You've found our little secret.

Sign up for our Happening email for all the inside info about arts and culture in the Kickstarter universe and beyond.